Wheat and Weeds: Why Evil Grows Alongside the Kingdom

Hey, I want to welcome you today, especially if you're visiting for the first time and you got up this early to come to church. Praise be to God. I want to also welcome all those watching online. You know, we have people watch all over the world. Last week, we had somebody in Slovakia who was tuning in live during the service. And today, I saw this morning someone from Vietnam. So, hey, greetings. Welcome. We're so glad you're here. Could you all just shout hello to those watching online? Come on, somebody. Hey, we're in this together. You know, God can be anywhere at any time. Today we want to receive from the Lord. So if you brought your Bible, would you get out your Bible now? Hold it in the air like you care because this is no ordinary book. God wants to speak to you today. You can use a digital book. I'll tell you that God is going to speak to you today. Hold it up in the air like you care. I want all of us to shout word because we want to receive a word from the Lord. Here we go. On the count of three. 1 2 3. Word.

We're getting into God's word. So God's word gets into us. We're looking at parables. Parables mean to compare. Jesus is talking about the kingdom and he's going to compare things of this world to the kingdom of God. Jesus does not want us to be naive or ignorant about what the kingdom is and how we can have the full authority of the kingdom in our lives. So what Jesus does is he gives us these short stories, these parables of things on earth to show us the things of heaven. God wants you to know the things of heaven. He put it into practice in his life and he wants us to put it into practice in our lives. In fact, today's parable is going to actually show us greater revelation of why things happen in this world. If you've ever wondered why why do bad

things happen? Why does evil happen? Why why do I even think about bad things? Why do bad things happen to me? Jesus is going to explain in this parable why these things happen. And he's going to use earthly illustrations to teach us spiritual things. There are going to be moments in your life that you wonder, am I crazy? And I'll tell you, Pastor Noah hit the nail on the head when he preached a few weeks ago when he said, "I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom. I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom." Maybe you could say that with me. I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom. Because there will come a moment in your life, and for some of us, it's more often than not, you will feel crazy. You'll feel like you're an alien in this world. Am I the only one that thinks this way? Does everybody else

think this way? Does anybody else feel the way I feel? And I'm just here to tell you, quoting Pastor Noah, I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom. And we're going to discover kingdom simply means this. Jesus is the king and he has a way. That's kingdom. So Jesus is king and he has dominion. That's kingdom. But I need you to know this before we dive into today's text is there are two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of this world which is opposite of the kingdom of Jesus. And there's the kingdom of God. Now, the kingdom of God could be referred to as the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world could be referred to in many different ways as well. The kingdom of darkness, there's only two kingdoms. We've been trapped and tricked uh into believing there are multiple religions, but let me just tell you, there's only two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and there's the kingdom of this world.

The world might say, "Oh, there's many different religions. There's Buddhism, Hinduism, there's Islam, and there's all these different versions of Christianity." the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or or or Jehovah's Witness. But let me just tell you, there are only two kingdoms and they are opposing each other. And Jesus teaches us this. I'm not coming up with this on my own. And if if you're not careful, you'll come up with your own conclusions that are not of God. Jesus warned us that Satan is a liar. In fact, he calls him the father of lies. And so what he really wants for us to do is to come up with the wrong conclusions. Which is why I had you get out this book. We don't want to come up with our conclusions. The agnostic atheistic viewpoint is going to tell us that how could God be good if there's

evil in the world? He must have created evil. I tell you that's not God's word. We're going to discover in God's word where evil came from and why this exists in this world. Then Jesus is going to use simple terms so that we understand these things. That's why we're going to learn from parables. And if we understand these things, we we understand the ways of God. We understand kingdom. Now, we kicked this off last week looking at kingdoms through the parable of the swer. Jesus warned us in Mark 4:13 regarding the parable of the swer. Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? So, if you missed last week and you don't understand that parable, you may not understand this one. And now, let me tell you, you don't have to be here last

week. God can give you a revelation of his word at any time. I tell you, the Holy Spirit can hit you right in your car. He could hit you in the shower sometimes, and he could hit you right where you are today. So, I'm believing God's best over you that he wants to speak to you through these parables. All you have to do is open up the ears of your heart. That's it. I can't force it down your throat. I can't make you believe these things. But God's going to speak through this book that's active and alive. And he has a word for you today. Do you believe that he's got a word for you today? The text today is Matthew chap 13. We're going to continue to follow the teachings of Jesus. Matthew 13. We're going to look at verses 24-30. And then we're going to skip a few verses where Jesus picks up and he's going to explain the parable. So we don't come up with our own interpretation. Jesus is actually going to explain it in verses 36-43.

It's quite a bit of text. I'm going to read it to you. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? Matthew 13, starting with verse 24 and then we'll read through 30 and pick up in verse 36. He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who swed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and swed weeds among the wheat and went away." So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?" He said to

them, "An enemy has done this." So the servant said to them, said to him, "Do you want us to go and gather them?" But he said, "No, lest in gathering the weeds, you root up the weed along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first, bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. Verse 36. Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. And he answered, the one who sws the good seed is the son of man. The field is the

world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who swed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and buried with the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of the kingdom all causes of sin and all lawb breakakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated.

[snorts] Jesus warns us once again that this is a message about hearing. He allows us to either learn from this teaching or we can actually resist the word of God. It's open to every single one of our hearts here today how we receive the word of God. In fact, that was the message of the parable of the swer, which is why it's so significant that the way you receive the word of God will determine what will happen in your life. We learned last week, it was a different story, but the same teacher. It was the same principle of the kingdom, but we're going to see a different illustration today. Last week, we learned that our hearts are like soil. And whether or not you receive the word of the kingdom will determine what kind of a heart you have. For some people, they have a hard heart. It's like a a hard ground that the soil can't

go into. So, Satan snatches up that word. For others, it's the rocky ground. So the word goes in, but it just it it's not able to take root and it's going to it's going to fade away quickly when when tough times come. For others, it's like the thorny ground. You got the worries of this world, whatever those worries are, but it's going to choke out. It's going to eventually suffocate what God wants to do in your life. But finally, Jesus says, if you would just have good soil, if you'd be open to receiving the word of the kingdom, you will have an abundant harvest. It'll be a harvest that you could never do on your own. But there is potential when the word of God goes into your life. It could be a hundfold, 60fold, even 30fold. Now, this is a different illustration today. So, we've got to

understand, different story, same principle. The kingdom of heaven, God does not want you to be unaware of the kingdom. So, he says, if you have ears, listen up. Pay attention. The reason why he says this is this is real. This isn't it might happen. This isn't well maybe it could happen. This is real. Hell is real. Heaven is real. And God wants you to know that he has a way. It's on this journey of understanding these parables that Jesus is going to let us know that there there is an opposing kingdom to his kingdom. Therefore, if you believe in Jesus, you have made yourself an enemy of the devil. He He wants to bring accusations

in your mind. He He wants to hurt you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And when we understand this in light of who you are and what you're going through, all of a sudden, you have a revelation. You realize I'm not crazy. It's kingdom. So, let's dive right in today. Matthew 13:4, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who swed good seed and his field. The kingdom is so important that Jesus teaches us these principles. This is his message. This is why we're focusing on this. Jesus wants you to have the kingdom. He doesn't want you to wait for another day. He doesn't want you to think that the ways of this world is all that there is. He wants you to have the kingdom. It was his very first message he preached in Matthew 4:1 17. Jesus

preached a simple message. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He wasn't the first one that preached the message. John the Baptist started with this message. Repent means change your thinking. Another way you could think of the word repent is align your thinking with God's. Start start changing the way you think. And Jesus said, why should you repent and change your thinking? Because the kingdom is here. There's no more waiting. You can have the ways of the kingdom right now. You don't have to wait for another day or a better day. The kingdom is here. Now, Jesus went from preaching this sermon in Matthew 4 to putting it into practice. He went and lived out the ways of the kingdom. He shows us how to love. He shows us how to be kind. But he did more

than that. He took the authority of the kingdom and he put it into practice. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. And when you take the authority of the kingdom of God, here's how you know you're living out the kingdom. There's opposition. Jesus got opposition from the religious leaders of that day. And it's in that opposition that they came to Jesus and they actually they they tried to tell him, "You're not doing the works of God. You're doing the works of the devil." And so they start slandering him. They start calling him names. They gave Jesus the name Beelible, which literally translated means the lord of the flies. [snorts] Be elible in the days of Jesus was considered the prince of the demons.

I need you to see how the opposition of the kingdom of heaven works. The enemy wants to call you names. The enemy wants to slander you. The enemy wants you to believe lies that aren't true. Here the enemy, which happens to be the religious by the way, is calling the king of all kings the prince of the devils. Do you see this here? Yeah. And Jesus tries to explain in Matthew 12 when he was healing, when he was casting out demons, he he he says, "Listen, if I was of the devil, why would I cast out devils? A house divided against itself cannot stand. It will fall." So the devil's not trying to cast demons out of people. The devil is trying to torment people with demons.

And so Jesus explains in Matthew 12:28, "But if it is the spirit of God that I cast out demons, that's the authority. It's God himself. If it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom, get this, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Amen. When people are set free from demons, the kingdom has come. You see, you got to understand that this this isn't meant to be weird. Jesus did not say this stuff to us to scare us. He gave you these understanding of the ways of the kingdom to prepare us that you have this authority. Now, think about this here. If if demons torment people and they try to make people be crazy in their minds, what kingdom really is, is it's sanity. It's right thinking. It's right living.

It's right health. This is kingdom. This is what God wants for his people is that we would have the kingdom. Yeah. And so Jesus explains to us in this parable why why is there evil in this world? Why aren't all of us good? Jesus explains simply this in verse 25. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and swed weeds among the wheat and went away. Oh, the enemy is stealthy and malicious. He wants to kill you and destroy you. Make no mistake about it. He is an enemy. And he wants to get into your life. We know this is true because Jesus warned us in Matthew chapter 10. Jesus said, "If they did it to me, they'll do it to you." Look at Matthew 10:25. It is

enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. A disciple means a learner. Jesus is a rabbi which means teacher. So when we talk about making disciples, we're trying to learn from Jesus. We want people to to to live like Jesus. And he says a student should be like his teacher and the servant should be like his master. If they called the master of the house be elible, how much more will they malign those of his household? Jesus makes it clear. You you follow Jesus, you will be persecuted. You follow Jesus, there will be an enemy that goes after you. You follow Jesus, as the book of Revelation tells us, you will be accused day and night. Jesus brings us this statement, if they called me the prince of the demons, the king of kings. Come on. What are they going to what is the enemy going to do to the children of the king?

Children of the kingdom. So, we come back to this story of this field. You you got the sewer who's sewing wheat in his fields and the the they're going about their business, but while they're sleeping, meaning they couldn't see it. They didn't even know it was happening, the enemy was working. My friends, this is how the enemy works. You can't see it, but he is working. You may not even know it, but he is working. So, all of a sudden, at some point, they recognize that's not just wheat in the field. there's also weeds growing with it. And so the servants bring it to the master and say, "Something's wrong." You ever look at the world and say, "Something's wrong.

I I don't know if it's me or I don't know if it's them, but something's wrong." And Jesus is explaining why these things are happening in this world that we can picture these things. We could better understand these things. So they're confused. And they they ask the master of the farm, the sewer, then do you want us to go and gather them? You want us to get rid of the weeds? Have you ever just thought about this? Like, God, could you just get rid of all the evil in the world? Could you just pluck up all the evil ones and just leave us good ones behind? But the farmer says, "No, no, no, no, no. Hold on. We're we're going to wait. We're gonna wait for the harvest." Most scholars and when you read commentaries about this text agree that in Israel there's a weed called the Darnell that when it's growing looks exactly like wheat. So while it's growing alongside the wheat, you

actually can't tell it's a weed until it's maturity, until it's time for the fruit, if we can call it that, until it's time for harvest. So while it's growing up together, you can't tell which is which. you you don't even know that it's a weed among you. And there are moments that you're around people that you think they're one thing until later on you discover they're another. That all of a sudden you realize you're not who I thought you were. You looked like this, but all of a sudden I see you are not putting into practice the ways of the kingdom. So Jesus explains to us in this world when people are not living out the ways of the kingdom. We understand why these things happen.

People ask all the time, God is good. Why is there evil in the world? We we see it here. There's evil in the world because the devil is sewing evil seeds. Jesus himself said in Matthew, he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning. He was there when he decided not to give God the glory, not to worship the Lord. And so he was kicked out of heaven. And so now he is tormenting all of those here on earth to join him on this mission. How does the devil do that? Well, we see that he sews seeds of confusion. He sws seeds of lies. He sws seeds of deceits. Jesus says that this isn't going to last forever. There will be a harvest.

But until there's the harvest, the wheat and the weeds will grow together. And they'll grow together because when those seeds of the weeds started growing and those weeds go deep down into the ground, when the wheat grows, the roots grow together. So if you pluck out the weeds, you're also going to pluck out the wheat. So, if you get rid of the weeds right now, you never know if you're going to be picking out the good ones as well. Much like we learned last week, Jesus isn't going to leave us to our interpretation of the text. The disciples come to Jesus and they say, "Could you just explain this here? Why in the world you keep using these farming illustrations? We thought we were going to like take over the world.

Maybe you should talk about armies or some something a little more powerful. Like, what's up with the weeds and what's up with the wheat?" And so they they ask Jesus, could you could you explain this to us? And Jesus goes ahead and explains it. And this is really important that you listen. So pay attention. If you have ears, hear this. The one who sews the good seed is the son of man. So the farmer in this particular case is Jesus himself. He doesn't leave us to interpretation. This is the title that he often refers to himself as the son of man. That phrase is used 81 times in the Bible. Most often Jesus in the New Testament referring to himself, the son of man. In the Old Testament, when you see that reference, son of man, it just means a human. It means born of a man. That's what the son of man means. So,

traditionally speaking, a son of man would just be like, well, that's a person. That's a human. That that's who it is. Daniel, though, is a prophet that spoke forward that there will be a son of man unlike any other. He will be the ancient of days. There will be a son of man who will be a conquering king. And when Jesus steps onto the scene to fulfill that prophecy, he's pointing for us what scripture says. He is the one that Daniel talked about. So now Jesus says the the one that sws the seed is the son of man. That's Jesus the Christ. He's the son of God, which means fully God. He's the son of man, which means he's fully man. And here he is sewing this seed. He goes on to explain that the field unlike the previous story where the soil was the heart in this particular case the field is the world.

He clarifies this. Now I want to clarify to make sure that you understand the field is the world not the church. The reason I want to clarify that is today we think of church as some place you go to. I'm going to church. I'm going to park in the parking lot. I'm going to go in and sit in a chair and it's a building with four walls and a ceiling. the the word church actually in the Greek is eklesia. It means the called out ones. So the word church was never meant to just be this this place we go to. We're actually meant to go out into the world. So if the field represents the world, the church is in the world. Are you seeing this? So we're in the world, but we're not of the world. We've been swn into the world. God has a plan for the church.

He's got a plan for his people. He's got a plan for us. So, so the clarification here is Jesus has a plan and he's sewing good seed in this world. The good seed here is represented as wheat. The field here is represented as a world. Now, Jesus explains, here's who the seeds are. The good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. Now, be not mistaken here. We weren't just born into the kingdom. Jesus clarifies over and over again, you must be born again. You you you've got to believe in the Lord. This is why the first parable is so important. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. When you hear that you're a sinner and that Jesus is a savior and you receive that good news and you believe it,

you're born again. The Bible says you're not the same person you used to be. You're a new creation. You are no longer who you used to be, a sinner. You now are a saint, which means you're set apart for his purpose. He's got good plans for you. John wrote it this way. But to all who did receive him, Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That's a son of the kingdom. You're you're a child of the kingdom of God. Now, when you believe in Jesus, who were born not of blood, so it's not being born into the right family. That's not what makes you a Christian. Nor of the will of flesh. Listen, you can't earn your way to be a child of God. Nor of the will of man. Listen, I can't just [snorts] commission you and ordain you to be a child of God. This is of God.

That's how you're born again. So, when we see those seeds that are sown by Jesus, he's the one that did it for you. You just received that seed. And so now we see very clearly that there are children of the kingdom. But he also explains, listen very clearly here, there are children of the evil one. And the sons of the evil one don't walk around saying, "I'm sons of the evil one." They're just deceived and they don't believe in Jesus. Therefore, they're not children of the kingdom of God. Listen, some of you might be here today and just because you go to church doesn't mean you're born again and a child of the kingdom of God. Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than sleeping in your garage makes you a car.

Or going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac. I tell you, you can go to church, you can call yourself a Christian, but I tell you what makes you a child of God is believing in Jesus and receiving Jesus for who he is. He is Messiah. He is the son of God. He is the son of man. And so when I believe in Jesus, I realize I'm no longer just living for myself. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians, "For we are his workmanship." Another translation says, "We're his masterpiece." Listen, you are the best of the best, the very, very best. God doesn't make mistakes. Doesn't matter who you are. You might have a learning disability and God says, "Oo, I did a good job with that one. I'm going to confuse all the teachers because they can't form them in the way that they thought they should be." I tell you, God doesn't make mistakes.

He loves you. You're his workmanship. And he prepared good works for you to do. Which which means he has a plan for you. He put you into this field. He put you into this world with a purpose, not to live like everyone else. You're not meant to be a weed. Listen to how the writer of uh Philippians says it. That you may be blameless and innocent children of God. God's plan for you is not to live like everyone else, but you're to be a child of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. So, we start to recognize, oh, that's why I'm different. I'm in the world, and it is a wicked generation. I I'm in the world, which is full of weeds. I'm in the world surrounded by people that don't believe. I'm in the world where the enemy is working. But if you have believed in Jesus, you are planted in the world like

wheat is planted in a field. Meaning, you are planted with a purpose. The greatest tool of the enemy is to make you wake up and not know that you have a purpose with your life. You have purpose. If you think you have no purpose, then you think you can end your own life. You'll think that everybody else is against you. And I tell you, everybody might be against you, but if God is for us, who could be against us? You're planted in this world, which means you're planted in your job. You're planted in your school. You're planted in your neighborhood. God planted you in your family. You might have been wondering, "God, I wish I was born into a different family." You know how much God loves you? He put you in your family because he knew your family needed you. You're planted there with a purpose.

You're not there by accident. God has you there just as God stepped out of heaven and came to this world. The light stepped into the darkness, not to become darkness, but to bring the light. When Jesus prayed, he said in John 17, I do not ask that you take him out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. This is Jesus praying to the father. I don't want them to become weeds. They are not of the world. Jesus said in verse 16, just as I am not of the world, you're not of this world. You might be in it, but you're not of it. So Jesus prayed this. sanctify them in the truth. They need to know the truth. They need to know the truth. They're not weeds.

They're not weeds. They're they are wheat. Your word is the truth. As you sent me into the world, just as the father sent the son into the world, so Jesus says, "I have sent them into the world." When Jesus was asked about being a king because he is the king of all kings. Pilate asked him before he was crucified, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus made this statement. Jesus answered says, "My kingdom is not of this world." Which is why you start to go crazy when you start living for another world. When you start talking about this other world, when you start not living like everybody else, because this kingdom I'm referring to today is not of this world, even though we're in this world. So, how

could you be in this world, the kingdom of the enemy, and still be of the kingdom of God? Let me borrow some illustrations from Dallas Willard. In a great book called The Scandalous Kingdom, Dallas Willard points out, if you have a desert, just imagine if you will, you're in this vast desert that goes on for miles, tens of miles, hundreds of miles of desert sand. I'm talking about aid dryness. It's hot. and you're walking through this desert and you stumble upon this cold pool of water in the middle of this desert. Now, that water is not like the sand because the pool of water is not of the desert. Because where does water originate? In the mountains, it's when it rains in the mountains and when it's cold enough, it

snows in the mountains. And then when it warms up, that water then goes into the ground and it either becomes a river or a stream or or we know that there's channels under the earth where the water goes into and it can travel vast different va many miles eventually potentially ending up in a desert. So although that pool of water is in the desert, it's not of the desert. So it's in the desert but it's not of the desert. Okay, if you didn't get that illustration, let me just give you one maybe we can relate to. Imagine if you will, I fall into a pig pin. I'm with the pigs, but I'm not of the pigs. Are you tracking with me? I might be in the pig pen, but I'm not of the pig pen. I can be in a university and still uneducated. I can go to a

museum and not be an artist. You see, when you are of something, it's your identity. Your last name is of your family origin. That that's who you are. And Jesus says you are a child of the kingdom, but you are in this world. So don't act like a pig because you're not a pig. Don't act like a weed. You're not a weed. You're of the kingdom of God and you're meant to be of the kingdom of God. But Jesus warns while you're in this world, you will be surrounded with people of the world. They're not of the kingdom of God. They're of the kingdom of the world. So Jesus says, "The weeds are the sons of the evil one.

And the enemy who swed them is the devil." This is why the Bible says, it's so important that you read the Bible. We do not battle against flesh and blood. Your battle is not against another person. This is a spiritual battle. It's a battle of the mind. It's a battle of the soul. This is a spiritual battle. Our weapons are not the warfare of the world. Our weapons are not of the flesh. Our weapons are spiritual weapons. We are a praying people. We are people that take every thought captive. We are a people that continually come to God's word. There is an enemy behind all of the evil in this world. Evil in this world is not random. So when we see things like murders and rape and all all the evil that's done, it's not random. There actually is a

spiritual force. We the scriptures call a kingdom. There is a spiritual kingdom behind all of these things. Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5'8, "Your adversary," that means your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. You know, I've been to Africa and I've been near lions and there's tall grass in Africa. And these lions, they will crouch down and they will match the color of the grass. The grass will be a a a yellowish uh brown and the lion will be the same color and they'll blend in with the grass. They will crouch down until there is an antelope or whatever animal they want to eat. And when that animal is near, they devour it. They they do not

welcome themselves and say, "Hey, by the way, I'm about to take your life. I want you to be aware of what's happening here." Peter says, "That's how the devil works in your life. He is hiding around the corner when you can't see it. He's disguising himself like the world. He He's not going to look the way you think he looks because while you're sleeping, he's actually scheming to destroy your life." Jesus said this, "The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy." This is his mission. You continue to read, Jesus says, "But I I'm here to give you life and life abundantly." Yes. So, so it's no wonder that when we look around the world that the world is the way it is. Jesus said these things would happen. We can't be dis uh surprised by these things. We can't be surprised that even in the church, the enemy is working.

I've been so surprised over the last few decades of how many pastors have fallen morally. I've been so surprised by people that I thought were my Christian friends who stabbed me in the back. I've been so surprised when I when I hear vulgar, crude things come out of supposed Christians mouths or people that live just like the rest of the world. And we shouldn't be surprised. You got weeds all around you. Even Satan, we're told in the scriptures, he he's not the way that Hollywood paints the picture in the horror films. 2 Corinthians 11:14, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He's going to look spiritual. He's going to act spiritual because he wants to be God. So, if he could just trick a generation to think that the devil isn't

who the Bible says the devil is, then we've given into the deceit of the enemy. We start acting like weeds. See, earlier in Matthew, this is what Jesus said. He says, "You can tell a tree by its fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit and a good tree produces good fruit. And so what we look for is not in the moment of immaturity. We look for maturity because you know fruit takes time. We should have a little grace with each other. So somebody gets saved in the church and they they're stumbling and they're growing and they don't know the word of God yet. That's okay. Just keep maturing. Don't keep going back to your vomit of sin. Just keep maturing. It's okay. But if you if if you keep calling yourself a Christian and you keep sinning, G Jesus says that's a lawb breakaker.

You're not who you think you are. You might be with the wheat, but you're actually a weed. And there is a place reserved for this that if you keep coming back to sin and you you're not regenerate in your heart, if it doesn't break your heart for the things of God, we just sing that song, send me. And I don't know if you read those lyrics when you're actually singing them. It's like, "Oo, this is pretty serious church. If I have to go say something that's really hard, send me. If if I have to go wash the feet, if I have to go serve the poor, send me. Are you sure?" Because that means you're a child of the kingdom. And it's going to be misunderstood. It's going to be hard. So why in the world does God allow the wheat and the weeds? And why why is he waiting to the harvest? Why is he waiting so long? As I explained, the root systems are brought in together.

But here's the good news here. God is patient in the process. He is so patient. Jesus said, Matthew 13:29, "Let's let's not gather the weeds, lest you root up the wheat as well." God is waiting for those in the church to do what they've been called to do. Make disciples of all the nations. We are not a holy huddle. We are not better than anyone else. We're here to simply testify. The same Jesus that saved me can save you. So until the harvest, Jesus says in Matthew 13:30, "Let both grow together. Let let the wheat be with the weeds, let the children of the kingdom be with the children of the evil ones." Just like Jesus did not avoid sinners, he actually went and spent time with sinners, but he did not become like the sinners. The sinners became like him.

Let's be a little bit more like our teacher and realize he was patient with us. Romans says that it's his kindness that leads to repentance. Second Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, but he's patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish." So why hasn't God fixed this world yet? He's patient. He He's a God of mercy. He's a God of grace. When you read through the book of Revelation, you read wrath upon wrath upon wrath. Every single time God's given an opportunity for people to turn to him, to trust in him, to repent, to receive his mercy, to receive his grace, God deeply desires repentance. Think about this. Some weeds today are going to be weak tomorrow.

one of the worst guys you read about in the scriptures who imprisoned Christians, put them to death, tried to stop the church in the first century, became a Christian. So, one of the worst weeds became a wheat. His name is Paul. And Paul was one that persecuted. And if we would have just said, "God, take him out now. Get rid of him." We we would miss many of the books in the New Testament. It's a testimony of God's grace, of who he was, the worst of sinners, saved by grace through faith in Jesus. Thank God for his patience.

Jude says that when you have Jesus, have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. to others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. It It should disgust you what the devil's doing today. Movies aren't meant just to entertain you. We We ought to be disgusted when the devil slips into our entertainment. We should be disgusted what the devil's doing in our school system. We should be disgusted with what he's doing to our neighbors. Listen, you drive down Third Street, all the all you see is pot shops. You don't see churches. Weeds. That that's that's it's weeds. That's actually Come on. But you know what God's calling us into? That's a good word.

You know what he's calling us into, friends? He's not calling you to go beat down people with the Bible. He's not calling you to beat them. He's calling you to love them like he did. He He's calling you to call them out of the darkness into his marvelous light. Oh, the mysteries of Jesus. I love this. He says boldly. He says, "I am the light of the world." And then he looks to those who believe in him and he says, "You are the light of the world. You go into the darkness." Come on. You pray for those pot shops every time you go right. I'm not even going to call them anymore. You pray for those weed shops, somebody. And here's why. In all the seriousness here, here's why. The harvest is coming and it is real. Amen.

Jesus says the harvest is the end of the age. Jesus promised he's coming again. Oh, we can get so comfortable and complacent and be like, "Well, he hasn't come yet. He's probably not going to come in my lifetime." He's coming soon. We have to be ready. He gave parables about this. We're going to look at them. He gave parables about people who thought they were believers, but they weren't ready for the second coming. They weren't ready for the harvest. There's a day coming when you are going to meet your maker. And Jesus is the perfect judge. He's completely righteous. He's completely perfect in holiness. He is the only one that can judge us. And when we go before this judge, he knows your heart. You can fool everyone, but you can't fool God. And the Bible says in Acts 17:31, he has fixed a day on which he will judge the

world in righteousness. What he does will be right. Oh, when you hear humans say, "How could God send anyone to hell?" It's a naive, small, shallow view of God, he's perfect. He doesn't make mistakes. He gives every single person an opportunity to be a child of the kingdom of God. He He is not an emotional person like we are. He does not live the way we do. He He is not finite in thinking like we are. He is infinite in wisdom. He's infinite in knowledge. So, he is perfect in all of his ways. So when he judges, he does it according to who he is, his character. Revelation 20:12 tells us, "And the dead were judged by what was written in the books." The Bible teaches us that when you believe in Jesus, it gives us an illustration we can understand. Your name's written in the book of life, no one can erase it. You are sealed by the

Holy Spirit. So when you come before the judge, your name's in the book of life and you are sealed and promised. You didn't earn your righteousness. You didn't deserve your righteousness. It was given as a free gift by the righteous one, Jesus Christ. And so, your name's written in this book of life. But if your name's not in the book of life, it is too late. Jesus says there are real angels that are working just as there are real fallen angels. We call them demons. And those angels of God are going to they're going to separate those who are children of the kingdom and those who are children of the evil one. And Jesus says they will throw them into the fiery furnace and in that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. This is one of the clearest teachings about God's judgment

that hell is real. It's an illustration and Jesus will use other illustrations like that of a dump burning garbage and it's so bad you your jaw is clenched because you don't want to be near it. Jesus spoke more about hell than he did heaven. He He's like a good parent trying to teach you that you don't need to go there. This is real. He's not avoiding the subject saying, "I hope they figure this out on their own." He's giving us a story so that in your heart, if you align with his, your heart breaks for the things that break God. He doesn't want anyone to go to hell. He gives you the free gift of grace so that you can experience the gift of eternal life. It's free. But judgment is real. And he warns us.

He warns us. He warns us like a speeding sign warns you that you're in a school zone and you better slow down because the ticket will be more money. He's warning you, open up the ears of your heart. Hell is real. But that's not the end of the story. He also tells us then the righteous, not righteous because you did it on your own. You you didn't muster up and say, "Oo, I'm a good wheat." This is not morality good. This is good because you are of God. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the father. Oh, what a promise. What a promise. The harvest is going to be glorious. Oh, don't you think small of eternity because when you have Jesus, Daniel says, "Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above."

Do you understand that one day there'll be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more pain, no more darkness, no more backstabbing, no more murmuring, no more opposition from the enemy, no more weeds in this world, one day it will be far superior than anything you've imagined on this side of heaven. That's why Paul says, "The sufferings you're going through right now," and they are sufferings. Your hardships right now, they're they're temporary. The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed. So we're not to wallow around and say, "Oh, pity party. There's so many weeds going on in this world." We understand why evil's in this world. And we understand that we are called to a mission of God. The harvest is coming, my friends. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that he all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. He commisss us to go take that

authority to go make disciples of all the nations. We're not to sit back or shrink back. We're not just meant to have a holy huddle. We are the called out ones of God. And today, you're invited into this kingdom. It's a great invitation. I conclude with this and I want to invite the worship team up right now. I ask you this question. What kind of seed are you? Are you a wheat or are you weed? I I'm not going to embarrass anybody and say I want you to call yourself out if you're a weed, but I will just say this. There's only two families. There's the children of the kingdom and there's the children of the evil one. There's only two. There's no neutral ground here. Some people want to say, "Oh, I'm not religious. I don't I don't identify by any particular faith." That's a lie of the enemy. There's no neutral ground here.

Jesus said, "If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you on that day. But if you call on the name of Jesus, I've got good news for you. You're a child of God." It's that simple. I'm so grateful. He didn't say, "Hey, go get your life right. Get get your life right first and then follow me." He doesn't say, "Come to me when all the junk in your life is eradicated." That's not what he said. Many of misfits and rebels and mistake makers have followed Jesus. And sometimes it takes a while to get that out of your system. Took a whole generation for the Israelites going from slavery to freedom. They had a hard time realizing that, oh, God meant it. God's for us. He's our protector, our provider. And the God of the Israelites is our God today. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob. And he is your God today. He is the God of Daniel that was with him in the lion's den. He's our God today. He is the God of David, the one that defeated Goliath. He's our God today. He is the one that rose Jesus from the grave. He's our God today and today if you've never believed in him you can cross over from darkness to light from [music] death to life so that what comes out of you will be as Jesus said by this my father's glorified that you bear much fruit that the world will see that you're wheat that they see what's coming out of you is actually of God and what I mean by that is the fruit of [music] the spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness self-control that God [music] starts

producing something out of you that you didn't produce out of yourself. Are you ready? The Bible warns us in Hebrews 9:27, "It's appointed for man to die once, and after [music] that comes judgment." There's no such thing as reincarnation where there's a universe giving you a second chance to be a better person. It's a lie of the enemy. God made you with one life and he's so good that he can redeem that life. Even if you've [music] spent decades messing it up, you are going to die and you will be judged by God. And by accepting the grace of [music] Jesus Christ, you'll be counted as righteous. Jesus told us this parable not just to inform us, but to respond. He wants you to respond today. He wants you to leave here confident that you're a child of God. How do we know this? The Bible tells us God shows us his own love

for us. And this, [music] while we were sinners, Christ died for us. He loves you so much. He died on the cross for every one of your sins so that you no longer have to carry that [music] sin. He carried it on the cross. He was without sin. God became a man to take your sin so that you no longer are a sinner. You're born again. You're now a wheat, no longer a weed. What what a testimony to what God wants to do in the city. [music] Some transformation. Let's see some weed shops turn into some wheat houses. Okay, I'm talking churches, friends. Let's see this place explode with churches.

But it starts with your heart today. We can't change other people, but you can change [music] yourself. With every eye closed, I'm going to ask you just a very simple question. Would you like to receive the good news you've heard today? That Jesus loves you. He died for you [music] and and he has a purpose and a plan for you. If that's you today and you came here and you're you're uncertain at all about eternity from this [music] moment forward, you could be certain that you're saved. You could be certain that you're going to spend forever with God. From this day [music] forward, you could be confident that you're a child of God. Oh, you might have doubts periodically, but that doesn't come from God. He's going to check that. He's going to replace it with the truth. He's going to redeem you. So I just say if [music] that's you today with all eyes closed, would you slip your hand up and say, "Yes, that's me. I want to receive this

good news today. I I want to become a child of God [music] just right where you are. Just boldly." Because from this point forward, you're not going to live like the world anymore. You're going to live the life God destined for you. Don't [snorts] hesitate. Don't wait. [music] You don't know if you have tomorrow. That's you. Slip your hand up. Say, "Yes. Yes. I want that salvation. I want that good news. I want that forgiveness. I want that hope. I want that peace. [music] If that's you, just raise your hand. I want to see it. I want that joy. I want that love. Come on. You came here today not to play religious [music] games, but to meet with God. If you've ever wondered in your heart like, I don't know what happens when my heart stops. The Bible says when you have Jesus, to be absent from the body [music] is to be present with the Lord.

But if you don't believe in Jesus, the [music] Bible also warns us that without Jesus and your heart stops beating, you experience [music] what's called a second death. It's separation from life forever. God doesn't want [music] that for you. Is there anybody right now just raise your hand high? I want to celebrate with you. Not going to call you out. Just I want you to confidently say that that's me. It's not raising your hand that saves you, but on the outside, you're making a decision that you've made on the inside. Is there anyone I've missed today? I want you to wave your hand so I [music] can see you and celebrate because God has so much joy in heaven. I don't want to miss you today.

You see, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved. So I want to pray with [music] you today. I want to ask that if you want to believe in Jesus, you'd pray this prayer. Prayer is just getting real with God is talking to God right where you are. [music] Just going to ask that all all of us here today that we would just receive in the simplicity like a child. I'm just going to pray a simple prayer just out loud. Pray this with me. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sins. I am a child of God. I received the Holy Spirit. Use me, Lord. I am in the world, but I am not of the world. I will live [music]

for your kingdom. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. And amen.